The singer-songwriter will play a huge gig next year in a city which has played a big role in his career
Billy Joel will play a sold-out concert at Anfield next summer, returning to perform in Liverpool for the first time in 45 years. The Piano Man’s gig at the home of Liverpool FC is one of just two concerts he will play in Europe next year – the other being at Edinburgh rugby stadium Murrayfield.
Playing a huge Liverpool gig will be apt for Billy, 75, as he credits our city’s most famous sons with inspiring him to follow his passion. The legendary singer-songwriter draws on his working class Long Island upbringing in his music, with songs like ‘Allentown’ and ‘Movin’ Out’ celebrating blue-collar workers and their aspirations.
It was watching Beatlemania sweep America as a teenager that made Billy realise that a working class musician like himself could make it. John, Paul, George and Ringo’s performance on the Ed Sullivan Show in 1964 was a cultural watershed moment watched by more than 73m people, cementing The Beatles as a force in the States.
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Billy has said that performance changed his life, inspiring him to pursue music as a career. Asked about The Beatles influence on him in an interview with 60 Minutes Australia in 2022, he said: “They were my idols and they did it.
“They wrote their own music, they wrote their arrangements, they played their own music, they sang their own music. It wasn’t synthetic – it wasn’t put together for Hollywood, it was their own work that did it.
“The Beatles didn’t look like Hollywood stars, The Beatles looked like working class guys – they had an attitude. I guess being from Liverpool – that’s a working class town.
“When we saw these guys on TV, we said ‘wait a minute, they don’t look like Fabian, they don’t look like Frankie Avalon, they don’t look like Elvis. They looked like regular guys, like people you would have hung out with – except their hair was longer.
“I picked up on that right away – I said ‘that’s possible, I could actually do that, coming from where I come from’.”
The Beatles have continued to play a big role in Billy’s career. He frequently plays the band’s songs live, notably a performance of ‘All My Loving’ at New York City’s Madison Square Garden earlier this year, marking the 60th anniversary of the Fab Four’s appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show.
It seems the appreciation is mutual as Paul McCartney has also joined Billy on stage. The two delivered a memorable performance of ‘Let it Be’ at Shea Stadium’s last ever concert in 2008.
At that gig, Paul spoke about The Beatles’ famous 1965 gig at the same stadium. He said: “It’s so cool to be back here on the last night. I came here a long time ago, we had a blast that night, and we’re having another one tonight.”
